Tips on back budding

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Hey guys got this nice tree but the branches have gotten a bit long in the tooth .


Any idea how to promote back buds ? Should I jist
Clip off all The new growth ?

Not sure of exact species

image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 

Colorado

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Looks like a Spruce to me, not a Pine. But as to your actually question, I don’t know because I don’t have any (yet). Maybe the proper type of tree will help your research though!
 

0soyoung

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Looks to be a blue spruce (picea pungens). Like all spruce, if you cut it leaving no buds, the branch is dead even though it may be two years until all the needles fall off. The best routine, IMHO, is to wait until after the season's new foliage has hardened (roughly sometime after the summer solstice) AND you can see buds at the bases of some needles. Then you can cut back to a bud. I haven't a clue where you are, but I've preferred to do this in August. This will induce back budding, even on the trunk of a reasonably healthy tree.

The rest is water, lots of sun, and lots of nitrogen (which is best to apply after the summer solstice until temperatures are dropping below 40F).

You will find many published recommendation to pinch new growth. IMHO, this is, at best, a refinement technique and is useful only for limiting the length of new shoots. Done improperly, you get a new shoot with nothing but a set of terminal buds (nothing to cut back to).
 
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if you want backbudding, fertilize like crazy. Let the tree create so much growth that creates sugars, that creates growth, that it doesn't have where else to put it but through back buds.
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Looks to be a blue spruce (picea pungens). Like all spruce, if you cut it leaving no buds, the branch is dead even though it may be two years until all the needles fall off. The best routine, IMHO, is to wait until after the season's new foliage has hardened (roughly sometime after the summer solstice) AND you can see buds at the bases of some needles. Then you can cut back to a bud. I haven't a clue where you are, but I've preferred to do this in August. This will induce back budding, even on the trunk of a reasonably healthy tree.

The rest is water, lots of sun, and lots of nitrogen (which is best to apply after the summer solstice until temperatures are dropping below 40F).

You will find many published recommendation to pinch new growth. IMHO, this is, at best, a refinement technique and is useful only for limiting the length of new shoots. Done improperly, you get a new shoot with nothing but a set of terminal buds (nothing to cut back to).
I agree, and have had similar results pruning a Spruce in early fall.
 
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Thanks everyone for the info .

I’ll definitely keep this in mind once the new growth hardens off.
 
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